Category: Food Business

There aren’t many premier international food processing companies with a history as rich as OSI Group. Their story takes place during energetic times in American history and involves an immigrant’s success story. It is also wrapped up in a decades-long partnership with the world’s most recognized brand. The innovation and growth that has characterized OSI Group have taken them to unprecedented heights of business achievements and more

Otto Kolschowsky was a German immigrant who was looking for his place in the land of opportunity. He settled in Chicago and in 1909 opened up a corner butcher shop and meat market. For nearly a decade he thrived as he served many other German emigrants like himself. The growing German population made up a sizeable percentage of this crossroads city and the friendly face and voice of Kolschowsky provided a valuable resource to the local community.

The first expansion for Kolschowsky was into wholesale meats and this happened near the end of World War One. As his business continued growing, it became a family affair when his two sons joined him as managers. This occurred in 1928 and they became Otto & Sons which continued the immigration success story. For nearly three more decades they functioned like this as a trusted member of the business community.

1955 was a watershed year for Otto & Sons as the next catalyst for their business arrived in the person of Ray Kroc of McDonald’s. He was planning the first franchise location in Des Plaines, Illinois and needed a quality meat supplier. The excellent reputation of Otto & Sons led to a handshake agreement with Kroc and both companies were off and running.

The historic first McDonald’s franchise was the start of something amazing. The chain restaurant model proved to be a massive success with American consumers during a time of prosperity. Both companies grew at extraordinary rates and expanded regularly.

A significant instance of innovation occurred when Otto & Sons adopted a new technology for flash freezing their burgers. This enabled them to supply distant McDonald’s franchises and their production continued to grow. In 1973 they continued supplying the Golden Arches as one of only four companies. An entire plant was devoted to their product line. In 1975 Otto & Sons became OSI Group as it reflected their growth on a global scale. A key executive named Sheldon Lavin also arrived during this year and helped propel OSI Group with an expansionary vision as he utilized his banking and investing skills.

OSI Group is a leading food manufacturing company in the world. The company has headquarters in Chicago, Illinois and a presence in over 17 countries. OSI Group has risen from a small butcher shop in Chicago into now a multinational worth over $6 billion. The company has been around since the early 1900s when a German immigrant named Otto Kolschowsky established it. From the butcher shop, the company expanded slowly inspired by the emergence of retail food supply franchises such as McDonald’s. In fact, it is the McDonald’s which have contributed largely to the success of OSI Group.

Around the 1950s, back then called Otto & Sons, the company was contracted by the newly established McDonald’s restaurant in Illinois to supply them with beef products. From the management of the founder- Otto, subsequent managers have not let down the dream of the founder. They have made the company what Otto himself would have loved to accomplish. The current management is headed by CEO Sheldon Lavin and President David McDonald.

The success of the OSI Industries can largely be attributed to two things. One is the establishment of food retail chain businesses in the country and the second is a revolution in technology. As the food business for McDonald’s grew so did the pressure on OSI industries to supply food products. It reached a point where they had to supply food products to far places. Food preservation and mass production became a necessity. Luckily at the same time, more advanced methods of food preservation were introduced. This meant the company would supply food products to all areas where McDonald’s had restaurants.

The management of OSI Group has been instrumental in the growth of the company. Right from the founder and his two sons, they took advantage of the deal established with the McDonald’s to boost their growth. Since this deal, it has been a continuous process of development. The company started building its food manufacturing plant to meet the huge demand for products. The first plant was built in Illinois in 1975. Others have been opened in different parts of the United States and now in other regions. There are some in Europe and China. In total, the company has 65 facilities all dedicated to food supply. OSI industries major in protein foods such as pork, beef, and chicken products. They do not normally sell their products in retail; they supply food chain companies.

OSI Food Solutions is a food production and processing company. It has more than 65 amenities around the global. OSI Food Solutions offers food production, processing, and distribution services to various food service firms across the world. It also serves retail markets with its products.
OSI Food Solutions is among the world’s largest private food processing companies. It was launched in the year 1909. Its main offices are located in Aurora. Illinois. It developed over time, and now it is an international plant. It provides products such as poultry, beef, sausages, and hotdogs.

The demand for chicken has grown to non-sustainable levels. As a result of the rise in demand, suppliers such as OSI Food Solutions have to mechanize their production to cater for the demand-supply gap. Chicken products are part of the main sales from OSI Food Solutions. The firm has a specialized department of chicken production.

OSI Food Solutions has developed ways to double the production of chicken in the company. It produces chicken nuggets and patties that are distributed to numerous food service companies in the world. Some of the main firms that OSI Foods Solutions’ products are distributed to include Burger King, Starbucks, Papa John’s and McDonald’s. The companies as mentioned earlier need to meet the demand level of chicken for their customers.

To meet the demand, the companies have to notify their main supplier, OSI Food Solutions to take the obligation of increasing its production and then supply more than it was supplying before. OSI Food Solutions company has picked up the challenge by devising ways that can help it increase its chicken production.

One of the strategies that were employed was the acquisition of Baho Food. Baho Food enterprise is located in Dutch. It is the leading food supplier of the region. It supplies its products across Europe. It also provides deli meats to the customers in the region.

The purchase of Baho Food has placed OSI Food Solutions in an excellent position to produce more chicken products for the market. Baho Food was acquired by OSI in the year 2016. Its acquisition was a move to cater for the rising chicken demand in Europe. Baho enterprise now serves more than twenty European countries. Making it one of the best-performing branches of OSI Food Solutions currently.

OSI Food Solutions also purchased a food plant in Chicago that was formerly owned by Tyson Food. The plant offered prepared meats to its customers in Chicago. It also distributed chicken cordon bleu and chicken pieces.

OSI Group is a leading international manufacturing and food processing company.

Two centuries and two generations down the line, OSI Group is now a leading international manufacturing and packaging company dealing meat and food services. The firm was founded by an immigrant from German Otto Kolschowky in 1909 and was a family business by then. The company was named Otto & Sons and made a name for themselves for providing quality meat products for Illinois. In 1955, the company became the primary supplier of ground beef patties for the newly opened branch of McDonald’s in Des Plaines.

The founder of McDonald’s Roy Kroc formalized the deal with a handshake between him and the two sons of Otto Kolschowsky. The relationship between the heirs of the two firms was a highly valued one. In 1960 the fresh food business experienced a revolution because of the introduction of cryogenic food processing method. Otto & Son’s was among the four leading companies to supply beef to the McDonald’s restaurants. In the year 1975, the company changed its name to OSI Group after Sheldon Lavin joined the executive leadership of the firm.

In the same period, a different unit for supplying meat to local restaurants and supermarkets was formed. Also, the company exclusively provided their products to McDonald’s, and both companies expanded their wings hand in hand. OSI Group has been featured in the Forbes magazine with the evaluation of their revenues as of 2011 cumulatively adding up to $3 billion and being listed as the 136th largest privately owned organization in America.

Since then, the company has achieved tremendous growth, and as of 2016, the company was listed as #58 o Forbes with a net worth of $6.1billion. The firm has its operations based in areas such as Utah, Chicago, California, Lowa and West Jordan. OSI group also has their facilities in other continents with most of their facilities located in continents such as Asia-Pacific, North America and the regions of western and Eastern Europe.

The products of the OSI Group include pizza, poultry, fish, vegetables, meat patties and products of dough. OSI Group has been a crucial supplier to other fast food brands of western roots in China such as Pizza Hut, Papa John’s Pizza, Starbucks, and Subway. OSI Group has been recognized for their achievements over the years and has been honored with several awards. The awards the company prides itself on are those associated with the managing of safety and health risks and also the diligent management of the environment.

The food industry is growing so much in the recent times. People are always looking for delicious and high quality food products that are given at affordable prices. There are so many companies that have emerged in this department, meaning that the competition has gone up. Companies that are not ready to invest in the quality of their products risk making huge loses at the end of the year. Those who are doing well understand the kind of products the modern customer looks for. OSI Group is one of these companies. The Aurora headquartered organization has all the food products clients in the global platform need.

OSI Group is an international firm. However, this has not been the case. The institution was started with just one store that was located in the United States. With hard work and discipline, the company has been expanding and doing well, and this is why it has opened so many branches in various parts of the globe. Customers love all of the products from this institution in global market. The management serving in this company has invested heavily in understanding the needs of the customers in all the regions, and this is why the success has been increasing each passing year. Sheldon Lavin is the person who has spearheaded the transforming of everything he is talking about. This finance executive is highly experienced in matters concerning company expansion and leadership, and he has ensured that the company does not make mistakes with its finances.

This year, Sheldon Lavin and his team said that they would be the new owners of Flagship Europe. This has come as a very big and unexpected surprise to the customers who have been looking forward to enjoying quality food products from OSI Group. Flagship Europe is also a giant in the food production world, and it specializes in the provision of pies and sauces. The company employees will be joining OSI Group so that they can work as a team and make the lives of the customers better. Flagship Europe leaders say that they are happy about the new decision they have made, and they are ready to work with their new management to provide best products. OSI Group leaders have decided that will not be disclosing the finance part of the deal that was closed recently. Sheldon Lavin says that this acquisition was reached after the company decided to reach more customers in the international market.

OSI Industries is a global food supplier that provides customized added-value food items around the world to many large foodservice companies and to retail food vendors. OSI Industries develops made-to-order food items such as meat, fruits, vegetables and protein products as requested by their customers’ unique specifications. OSI Industries is a world food provider, with a global management system that provides reliable quality control for the entire process of production from the source to the final destination. Headquartered in Illinois, OSI Industries is one of the largest private companies in the United States.

In 2016, OSI Food Solutions UK was awarded the Globe of Honour Award 2016 by the British Safety Council for their excellent management of environmental impact. The Globe of Honour award is given to organizations who have a demonstrably excellent record of environmental management. OSI Industries was amongst 18 organizations that received this prestigious environmental award. OSI Food Solutions UK is located in Scunthorpe, United Kingdom and produces beef and pork products for restaurants across the United Kingdom.

Recently, OSI Industries has acquired several companies in the food industry, notably Baho Food and Flagship Europe. Baho Food is a Dutch company that produces meat and other food products for retail and food service industries in Germany and the Netherlands through five subsidiaries, Vital Convenience, Bakx Foods, Frischwaren, Henri van de Bilt and Q Smart Life. Flagship Europe is a leading UK supplier in the foodservice industry and produces food items like frozen poultry, pies, dressings, sauces and sous vide items. These acquisitions strengthen the position of OSI Industries in the European food distribution market. Along with acquiring these new companies, OSI has also expanded their production facility in Spain by adding a high capacity production line that increased chicken product production to 24,000 tons per year.

OSI Industries is ranked as a top 100 Food Company as designated by Food Engineering for the Top 100 Food & Beverage Companies list. With 20,00 employees, 65 facilities and locations in 17 countries, OSI Industries has a yearly revenue of $6.1 billion dollars for the year 2016. OSI Industries is committed to producing superb quality food products in an efficient manner to customers around the globe and performs this service in such a way as to have minimal environmental impact. OSI Industries continues to work diligently to perfect and streamline their development and production processes and to present their products to a growing global market.

Business expansion is the primary strategy that offers an organization myriad of opportunities to be exposed to a broader audience. As such, OSI Industries Spain recently announced that it had doubled its chicken production by acquiring an additional facility. According to the spokesperson and managing director Mr. Jose Maria, the new expansion is the answer to the ever-growing population that has a direct impact on the total demand.

In the past, the Spain Branch chicken production capacity was 12,000 tons. Currently, it has increased to 24,000 tons. This is a sign of growth and OSI Industries, being the supplier that it has been for decades, is willing to accommodate this new demand in every way possible. Also, the Spain OSI Industries branch has a clear focus on providing consumers with the best quality of chicken products.

Regarding the new expansion, OSI Industries Spain is working with the additional 22,600 meters of shipping rooms, receiving rooms and production units. In addition, there are refrigerated rooms made for waste container storage and service areas for hot water and oil. The social area, on the other hand, is made for the interacting purposes of employees.

Moving forward, OSI Industries Spain is meant to continue supplying its products to its consumers in the best ways it can. This means that the employee turnover is relatively made to increase. As such, the company prides itself on being an equal employer. With the additional kitchen on the side, clients and consumers will undoubtedly receive some of the best services.

Regarding this acquisition, Dave McDonald, the president of OSI Group said that the expansion strategy adds new products to the company’s portfolio. In return, there will be consistent growth in food service as well as retail accounts.

It is critical to note that the chicken production expansion is not OSI Group’s only expansion project. In 2016, the company made a major transaction by acquiring Baho Food. This Dutch food production company has since then, expanded OSI Group’s scope of client base by thousands. It is one project that the company continues to thrive on knowing that there will be more consumers attracted to the business.

In June 2016, OSI Group purchased the Tyson Foods. This manufacturing plant played a pivotal role in expanding the client base as well. Because Tyson Foods is closer to OSI’s Chicago, it is easier to manage the business. Well, OSI Group continues to excel through these expansion projects.

OSI Group has operated in the Chicago area for many decades. The company began as a meat market in 1909. Its founder, Otto Kolschowsky grew his small business into a local meat distribution company for other food service providers. He called his startup company Otto & Sons. Otto and Sons gradually expanded over the years. However, it got its big break when they were recruited by Ray Kroc of McDonald’s in the 1950s. Ray Kroc was opening a restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois and needed a meat distributor.

Otto and Sons demonstrated the ability to support the ambitions of the growing organization. They brought several innovations to the business relationship such as the patty cutting machine and cryogenic freezing. Cryogenic freezing allowed Otto and Sons to maintain a huge inventory of meat while preserving its freshness. Otto and Sons were able to deliver their product to McDonald’s in the exact manner they wanted it with the patty cutting machine. Before long they became the exclusive meat distributor to the McDonald’s organization.

OSI Group purchased the Tyson Foods plant in Chicago for 7.4 million dollars. The plant was in jeopardy of shutting down. If the shutdown went through there would have been a loss of nearly 500 jobs. OSI seized the opportunity to expand its operation and preserve the livelihood of so many workers that had spent their entire careers at Tyson Foods. Many were offered positions with OSI.